Scholarship

THE CANINES FOR DISABLED KIDS SCHOLARSHIP

Supporting the creation of child-canine service teams to promote independence and social awareness.

Scholarship Recipient Requirements

·     Child must be under the age of 18 years old at the time of placement with their service dog

·     Child must have a physical disability, psychological disability or be in the Autism Spectrum

·     Child must be accepted by an Assistance Dog International member or an International Guide Dog Federation member or other qualified training program prior to applying for scholarship – must show proof of acceptance by providing a copy of the acceptance letter

·     Applicants must complete a CDK application for scholarship funds – this document is available by request to the CDK office or online

Distribution of Funds

·     Scholarships will be paid directly to the training organization, on behalf of the approved service team, after the client and dog have completed training and completed 3 month successful partnership after the training

·     A completed and signed release from must be received by CDK from the family before the scholarship will be paid.

·     Amount of scholarships will range from $250 to $5,000 as determined by the scholarship committee of CDK

·     Applications for scholarships will be considered semiannually, but paid out as outlined above.  Applications due dates for each period will be posted on the CDK website

Applications must be received and processed by the last day of December or May for review at the next review board meeting.

Applications should be sent to:

Scholarship Committee

   Canines for Disabled Kids

   65 James St Suite 210

   Worcester, MA 01603

Or emailed to Info@caninesforkids.org – in subject line please show “Scholarship  Application”

Or apply on-line here

*What qualifies a training program for a CDK scholarship?

The training program must be a 501c3 (nonprofit) program or foundation

The training program must be willing to provide information requested about the scholarship applicant, such as:

• Has the applicant been accepted by the training program?
• Does the applicant have a dog yet?  If yes, how long have they been together?  If no, how long do you estimate the applicant’s wait to be?
• What is the trained skill that the applicant’s dog will be trained to provide that directly impacts his/her disability?
• Must be willing to notify CDK of the child/dog team’s progress after their first three months post training.

The training program must be willing to allow CDK staff to visit the program in an effort to build good relations.  This also allows for CDK to learn more about the program, and for CDK to better understand the program for recommendation.

The training program must apply scholarship funds to the child and not the dog.

The training program must be established for 1 year or more and have 3 or more service dogs successfully placed and working for 1 year or longer